When Katy Perry released her second Capitol Records album, Teenage Dream, in 2010, she had quite a reputation to uphold. The California-born daughter of Pentecostal pastors had titillated — and in some cases, scandalized — the mainstream in 2008 with “I Kissed a Girl,” a playful, bi-curious confection inspired by Scarlett Johansson that spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, one of three top 10 tracks from her breakthrough LP, One of the Boys.
With Teenage Dream, which debuted atop the Sept. 11, 2010 Billboard 200, the then-25-year-old Perry not only avoided the sophomore slump, she made Hot 100 history. Lead single “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg), ruled the chart for six weeks and was followed by the title track, “Firework,” “E.T.” (featuring Kanye West) and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” which respectively topped the chart for two, four, five and two weeks.
After the ascent of “Last Friday Night,” in August 2011, Teenage Dream became the first album by a woman to generate five Hot 100 No. 1s and the second overall, behind Michael Jackson’s Bad (in 1987 and 1988). “Ever since I was 9 years old, singing into my hairbrush, I’ve dreamed very big dreams,” Perry told Billboard at the time. “But today is bigger than my dreams.”
The singer followed Teenage Dream, which has sold 3 million copies stateside, with Prism, which has moved 1.6 million, according to Nielsen Music; the Prismatic World Tour Live DVD arrives Oct. 30. After playing to a record audience at the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, Perry will perform at Rock in Rio on Sept. 27, with more South American dates set through October. She’ll return to the studio to begin a new album in 2016.